Is Sylvanas only liked because she's a female?

Do you think that is true? If Sylvanas were simply a male elf, turned into a Forsaken, and was looked exactly the way she did now, except no breasts, slim body, and small face, but a burly, Sith Lord looking Elf, would people even care about her?

Well, it would have been much harder to pull of the romance and sexual tentions between Arthas and Sylvanas during the WC3 Undead campaign. She foiled his plans numerous times and punished her for that.

She was a fan favorite even when she had the awful nelf model in Classic, TBC, etc. So no, you are wrong. It's not because she is female.

Well, it would have been much harder to pull of the romance and sexual tentions between Arthas and Sylvanas during the WC3 Undead campaign. She foiled his plans numerous times and punished her for that.

There was romance and sexual tension between Arthas and Sylvanas? I don't know if you are into some extreme BDSM style shit or are just confusing Sylvanas with Jaina but I didn't get any other feeling but animosity between the two. On topic though, perhaps a bit of yes and no. Me personally, I LOVE a good picture of a badass chick wielding some form of weapon so that plays straight into my view of Sylvanas.. on the other hand, the reason I loved Sasuke from Naruto was because he was an Avenger, same as Sylvanas.. dark and brooding, I don't know but it definitely appeals to me. The fact she is a female is just a bonus I guess.

Considering all the comments I see about Lor'themar, about how he's so girly etc etc, I don't think anyone would have cared for Sylvanas if she was a he. If Lor'themar was female I'm sure he/she would gain loads more attention by players as well.

Personally I don't care much for Sylvanas at all, and find Kael'thas and Illidan to be much more interesting. Too bad both of them are dead...

Considering how much the fanbase adores Illidan, male!Sylvanas would probably be more popular.

To a lesser extent, Darion Mograine as well. People get fan-wood for protagonists with deep moral compromise in their story. Not a great thing in my estimation, but it is what it is. So Sylvan Windrunner, if you will, would probably also be a very popular character.

Remember, there are a lot of interesting story hooks that come along with Sylvanas that really aren't there with most other characters, even if they aren't being explored. Having two sisters out there, one that must surely hate her and one that she adores but is missing, that is a hook that a lot of people will gravitate toward, because people have tension in their families. She also has a lot of metaphorical value in terms of nature/nurture, even more than Illidan. Sylvanas had no agency in what she became, i.e. undead. How much of what she has done since is because of who Sylvanas already was before the Scourge came, and how much because of what Arthas did to her?

One of my first thoughts coming to Warcraft lore was that, wow, Sylvanas is probably the closest to a unique character/least retreaded from other fantasy characters in this game.

Yes and no.
I'd be an idiot if I said it was the only reason. However I do think it contributes to her popularity. There's always been a thing amongst certain people who like fantasy worlds that draws them towards strong female elven archer characters, particularly if they wear skimpy clothes which goes hand in hand with the "elven archer" business.

I think if she was male she'd be less popular. But not by a significant margin. As another one of her traits is her own immorality and darker traits. Again there are a group of people who love this in fantasy worlds. Somebody who just doesn't give a toss and does what they want.

It sounds odd but it's because she has both of those traits that so many people like her.

Emo Mary Sues and Marty Stus are always popular. No matter how many people find them horrible, boring, and plain, there's great amount of people who just love evil badass who can do whatever he pleases because of plot armor. Yes, this type of character will always be popular with certain audience.

It is just like asking if soap opera / steamy love novel about female would be equally popular with male character - i.e. character sex actually have no relevance whatsoever.

She gains more notariaty because she is a girl, I'm sorry but thats a fact. And not just because she's a girl, but because her design is intentionally hot and her outfit skimpy.

And yes, there is a good portion of the playerbase in wow that doesn't care for story or plot or faction, they only care for how something looks, all the other details are pointless

"she killed dozens of people and raised them into undead"
"Yeah but she's hawt!"
"Arthas did the same"
"He's a guy, not hawt.."

And then there's the good portion of the playerbase that likes story/plot, and likes her for just that. (Not that all players who like story/plot likes her)
"she killed dozens of people and raised them into undead"
"yeah, but it isn't the goddamn same thing as what the LK did, she isn't the Lich Queen.

Some don't care for her actions, backstory and all, just her sexiness. The rest surely do enjoy she's female but that's not the only thing that they like, they care for all her lore and personality too.

Maybe a select few don't care about gender as long as a character is hot, in their opinion. Some enjoy the choice of gender but care about the whole package, and some just want something nice to look at and fantasize about. Goes for all characters, Sylvanas included.

"Reminds me of a dog. You stare at it while it's playing outside, running around in a circle, then stopping up, wagging with a wide "grin", jumping around until you call for the dog. Then it lowers its tail because it think it's done something bad and then you throw the ball, seeing the tail go straight into the air in bliss! ^^" - Gehco

No. She is liked because of her story.
She's the antihero of WoW and people love antiheroes!
She has a dark and heavy story, which is better than some of the "and then the gods gave him immortality and this superduper awesome weapon so he could kill all evil-doers with both eyes closed and a hand and foot on his back, but he could do it barehanded too because he's so awesome and pure GOOD! So he summoned an entire army of raptors and God adopted him as his kid because he was so perfect and righteouss. And this one time he sweared but he went back in time to stop this from happening because we can't have superheroes who aren't flawless!"

Sad part is that this could very well be a line out of a biography from some characters

Clever, but you're just coming to the conclusion that her being a bad ass *and* being female makes her more likeable. Subjective. Don't see any difference between male and female in WoW, or most other fantasy combat-wise.